1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless networks and more particularly to provisioning of bandwidth in wireless networks.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless Broadband Access (“WBA”) based systems have been designed to have operational characteristics that are indistinguishable from Cable or DSL methods of broadband access from the viewpoint of the customer. However, the mobility of subscribers and the architecture of wireless networks can prohibit service providers from offering levels of service based on characteristics of subscribers. For example, a residential subscriber may use a portable computing device at home and in the office. Since commercial subscription plans tend to provide higher bandwidth and richer feature sets at premium rates, the residential user generally receives inadequate service and the service provider may not realize optimized income for all subscribers.
The latterly described issue is one of many quality-of-service and subscription level enforcement issues associated with wireless networks. Wireless Broadband Access (“WBA”) is used for packet switched networks for Internet Access, PSTN Voice Line transport and many other purposes. WBA may serve different locations and different types of subscribers and individual subscribers may move from one location to the other and engage in different activities at each location. For examples, a consumer may buy a Wireless Modem (WM) to connect to WBA at home under a subscription that provides 1 Mbps access for a first price. During weekdays the consumer uses the WM at the workplace for access to the Internet. However, the provider sells Internet service to businesses at a higher rate than to residential users. Thus, a provider with a mixed customer base of consumers and businesses may lose revenue because of such use.